Secrets of the Past

Chapter 55

"Hi. Welcome back."

She tried to smile at him but it was painful due to the cut on her cheek.

"Hi," she whispered. "What happened?"

"You were in a car accident," he said, running his hand over her hair. "You're in the hospital."

"How long have I been here?"

"Since last night. I came as soon as I found out. I'm so sorry."

"For what?" she asked, her voice raspy.

"For everything. For causing you pain. For not preventing this from happening to you," he said, his eyes welling up again.

"I talked to Chloe. I know what happened," she said, reaching for his hand. "You don't need to be sorry."

He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and squeeze her. He kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand instead.

"Let me go find a doctor. They'll want to check you out now that you're awake. I'll be right back."

He returned seconds later with a nurse.

"Well hello," she said. "Glad to see you're back."

Brian hung back while the nurse examined her.

"I'll let your doctor know you're awake," she said as she left the room.

Brian sat back down in the chair and took her hand. Her eyes were barely open and he knew she needed to rest.

"Go to sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up."

Her eyes closed and he breathed a sigh of relief. He finally felt like he could breathe. He sat there, watching her, for a long while. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out and saw that it was Joe. He stepped out into the hall and answered.

"Hey Joe," he said, his voice just above a whisper.

"Hey buddy. Sal filled me in on what happened. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks man."

"How's she doing?" Joe asked.

"She woke up for the first time about an hour ago."

"That's great."

"Yeah, I'm relieved. She's pretty beat up but I think she's gonna be ok."

"I'm glad to hear it. I'll stop by later today. Bessy might be with me."

"Ok," Brian said. "See you soon."

He knew she would be sleeping for a while so he called his mom to let her know what had happened. His mom had grown to really like Giovanna and he knew she would want to know. Just as he was finishing the call he saw Sal and Rachel coming down the hall.

"Hey buddy," Sal said, giving him a hug. "How are you holding up?"

"Better now. She woke up a little while ago."

"That's great! I'm glad to hear it."

"Come on. She's sleeping but we can go in."

Rachel let out a gasp when she saw Giovanna. Sal put an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

"Wow," Sal said.

"I know. It took my breath away when I first saw her."

"How's she doing?" Rachel asked.

"She's stable. The doctor hasn't been in yet but a nurse did. She was only awake for a few minutes. I imagine she'll be out of it for a couple days."

"You look like hell," Sal said. "Have you slept or eaten?"

"I fell asleep at some point last night but I don't think it was for very long. And no, I haven't eaten."

"Well why don't we go downstairs and get something. Rachel will stay with her."

"Yes," Rachel said, "I'm happy to stay with her. Go. I'll text Sal if anything happens."

He was reluctant to leave but Sal grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie.

"Come on. She'll be fine."

"So what happened? Do you have any accident details yet?" Sal asked as they sat in the hospital cafeteria.

"No. Just that it was a car accident."

"Does she remember the accident?"

"I don't know," Brian said, taking a large gulp of tea. "I didn't ask her about that. She did ask me what happened to her but I'm sure that's because of her current state."

"How did you find out about it?"

"A cop called me. Mine was the last number she had called. He asked if I was the next of kin and dude, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. They usually ask that when someone dies."

"That's fucked up. What did you tell him?"

"After what happened with Chloe, I told him she had no blood relatives and told him I'm her boyfriend. And on the phone all he told me was that she was in an accident, so I didn't even know what had happened until I got here."

"Oh wow. You musta been going nuts," Sal said.

"Dude I ran every red light and stop sign on my way here."

"You're lucky you didn't get in an accident!"

"I wasn't thinking about me."

"So yesterday, after lunch, what did you do? Did you talk to her at all?"

"Yeah," Brian said, "I sat in the parking lot of her apartment complex like a creep and waited for her to come home."

"Did you really?! How long were you waiting?"

"Over three hours."

"Damn. So she talked to you?"

"She listened mostly," Brian said, running a hand through his hair. "I told her everything that happened and then she asked me to leave."

"That's it? Did she believe you?"

"I don't know. She was upset, obviously."

"So you just left?" Sal asked.

"Yeah. I said what I needed to say and I left it up to her. She must have seen or talked to Chloe afterwards because she told me when she woke up that she knows the truth."

"She did? That's great man. What else did she say?"

"Not much. She wasn't awake very long."

Brian finished his tea and looked at his watch. "I'm ready to go back."

When they got back to the room they found Giovanna awake and talking to Rachel. Giovanna smiled slightly when she saw them.

"Hey," Brian said, standing at the foot of her bed.

"Hi," she replied, her voice still weak. "Hi Sal."

"Hey," Sal said. "How are you feeling?"

"Never felt better."

They all laughed.

"You ready to go?" Rachel asked Sal. "Give them some time alone?"

"Sure," Sal said. He turned to Brian. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ok. Thanks for coming down man."

Brian hugged them both then they left.